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Painting and Society in Archaic and Classical Greece

This course explores the development of archaic and classical Greek wall
and panel painting: its early indebtedness to Egyptian and Near eastern
traditions and its extraordinary transformation in the classical city
state, with the development of optical naturalism (The Greek
Revolution).

We will seek to place innovations in the forms and
contents of painting in the context of the social and political uses of
painting – history painting, theatrical painting, funerary painting –
and transformations in religious and intellectual culture (colour
symbolism, philosophy, optical science). A range of approaches – art
historical, archaeological, sociological – will be taken to the
materials in question, which range from the archaic Greek paintings of
Turkey and Southern Italy to the stunning classical frescoes from the
Royal Tombs of Macedon which have transformed our understanding of Greek
painting in recent years.